4th Thanksgiving dinner!

We had 2 American Thanksgiving dinners today! The one last Sunday adds to our Canadian dinner we hosted before leaving Saskatoon to make 4. Each had its unique character. Loving family relationships, caring church family relationships and my new work family. The 3 Taiwan meals were good and had a few unfamiliar dishes. Sorry, I don't know the English name for those I was brave enough to try!

We are just marvelling that we have been in our apartment only one week! We're getting used to cable TV, we have CNN and a few English language movie channels all we have to do is filter the Chinese subtitles and commercials. I bet most of you filter the commercials at home! I believe we are the last generation that will be able to function without speaking capability in 2 and probably 3 or 4 languages. English may well become the most common crossover language but North American supremacy and dominance will fade.

There is so much to tell but it quickly becomes the everyday! Today Melissa drove us 2 or 3 places knowing exactly where to go in a city where most people describe a store or location as such and such a place next to such and such a place. Streets are organized, well most major ones are but many minor ones have developed from being small streets or lanes to business streets that now need explanations. On the way home tonight we used the freeway which Melissa is fairly familiar with but when she said "NOW I DON'T KNOW WHERE THIS IS " after she took the exit and turned right. Within 5 minutes we were back to somewhere Melissa knew. She now knows how to get to the backside of the MRT station! My girl the explorer!

There sure are a lot of stairs here! Sure there are lots of escalators and elevators but not everywhere. The school owner's house we were at tonight is in a beautiful development we could consider gated townhouses, well sort of. Quite similar to North America sizes but with 4 floors a LOT of stairs. Beautiful grounds just east of Chengching lake. Lovely walkways and winding stairs.

I'm off to Gangshan again tomorrow to sub for a friend of Melissa's so he can spend the day with his parents before they return to South Africa Monday night. Working alternate weeks could get habit forming. I start my 5 1/2 week stretch on Dec 4th. We will take a few days around Christmas and visit Lana Gummeson in Malaysia. I may be enjoying the teaching a bit too much, well at least enough that I feel confident making it through the December weeks is feasible and maybe comfortable. I have a new found appreciation for the HOURS teachers spend on their feet!

Well construction noise starts at 8 AM and tomorrow I teach from 2-9:15 so the yawns mean bedtime. The morning after we moved in the started replacing utility services and sidewalks on our street. They work fast here so they may well be done by week's end!